Former Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Liam Jacobs has been officially announced as the Patriotic Alliance’s (PA) candidate for Cape Town mayor in the 2026 local government elections, marking a significant political move ahead of the polls.
The announcement was made by PA leader Gayton McKenzie, who described Jacobs as a strategic asset for the party.
Made headlines
Liam Jacobs, aged just 24, will also serve as president of the Patriotic Youth Alliance, the party’s youth wing.
Jacobs previously made headlines after defecting from the DA and briefly pursuing mayoral ambitions in Tshwane, where he studied.
He later served as a councillor in Johannesburg and was linked to a potential appointment as the MMC for Transport.
However, the city’s leadership raised concerns over his readiness for the role, and the position was not confirmed.
‘Works for many, not a select few’
Shifting focus to Cape Town, Liam Jacobs has pledged to advocate for inclusive governance and youth empowerment in the metro.
“We will be fighting for a Cape Town that works for the many and not for a select few,” he said in a Facebook post.
The Patriotic Alliance’s decision to field Jacobs underscores the party’s growing presence in urban centres and signals a more competitive race for control of the City of Cape Town in 2026.
The DA’s Geordin Hill-Lewis is currently serving as the Executive Mayor of Cape Town.
‘Remember the name’
Following Liam Jacobs’s decision to join the PA in June this year, party leader Gayton McKenzie posted, “Remember this name, Liam Jacobs. We will guide him to heights unimaginable. He is a true talent and will greatly assist in changing the trajectory of our people.”
A day before Jacobs’s shock announcement that he had moved to the PA, McKenzie called out the DA for “hijacking Liam’s hard work for a political agenda within its party”.
He shared on Facebook: “They are not pushing him to heights but to a cliff. It hurts me big time that I found myself as a weapon that is used to destroy one of the brightest young minds in the coloured community.
“Liam is not seeing that he is being used and will be discarded soon”.
Seemingly predicting what lay ahead, McKenzie added: “I love you, Liam…your best years are still ahead of you. We shall read about your achievements in this lifetime, continue to do your work with no fear or favour.
“One day they will spit him out and we will be right there and pick him up because he is one of us always.”
